1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input device which allows a button input operation and a coordinate input operation to be performed in the same operation plane.
2. Description of the Related Art
An input device, such as a portable telephone, includes, for example, a pushbutton input, and can be used to perform various operations, such as inputting a telephone number and starting/ending talking on the telephone.
In recent years, internet connecting environments making use of portable telephones increased, so that various services are being provided using portable telephones. Accordingly, various menus are displayed on displays of portable telephones, and menu selections are frequently made.
When menu selections are being made using conventional input devices, a menu selectable location is moved by a push-type or a stick-type direction-indicating input which is provided separately of the pushbutton input of a portable telephone.
However, the operability of the above-described conventional input device is impaired because the pushbutton input operation and the menu selection input operation are carried out using different input mechanisms. In addition, the conventional input device has difficultly allowing quick menu selection because the directions in which menus are moved are limited to the vertical directions (upward and downward directions) or the horizontal directions (leftward and rightward directions).